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“I do not support the confirmation of Michael Boggs to the federal bench,” Lewis said in a statement. “His record is in direct opposition to everything I have stood for during my career, and his misrepresentation of that record to the committee is even more troubling.”

The Boggs nomination is encountering significant trouble after several Senate Democrats, including Majority Leader Harry Reid, have openly questioned whether they could support him. They’re upset about Boggs’ tenure in the Georgia legislature, where he gained a conservative voting record on gay rights, abortion and support of the Confederate flag.

It’s unusual for a House member to weigh in so publicly on a judicial nomination. But Lewis, a civil rights icon from Georgia, is in the middle of the debate after Reid and Majority Whip Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) said they would seek his counsel before deciding how to proceed.

The spotlight on Lewis only intensified after Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) indicated on CNN’s “State of the Union” on Sunday that Lewis apporved of Boggs’ nomination.

That prompted a furious reaction from Rep. David Scott, a fellow African American Democrat from Georgia, who took to Twitter on Monday to say that his colleague would be a “turncoat” if he supported Boggs.

Lewis said on Monday he was not advocating for Boggs in conversations with senators.

“I believe it is important to allow each candidate to be evaluated according to his or her own merits and to allow the Senate judicial nomination process to take its course. This willingness to permit due process is all that I have indicated in any conversation I may have had with my colleagues,” Lewis said. “I did not at any time indicate my support for the Boggs nomination or say that he had the backing of the African American community in Georgia.”

The Congressional Black Caucus, where Lewis is a prominent leader, expressed support last week for Reid’s comments opposing the nomination.

“Thank you for publicly expressing your opposition to the confirmation of Michael P. Boggs to the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Georgia,” Congressional Black Caucus Chairwoman Marcia Fudge (D-Ohio) wrote in a letter. “I respect and appreciate your concern for the people of Georgia and minority communities across the nation.”

White House press secretary Jay Carney hasn’t withdrawn the administration’s support for Boggs in recent days but has said that senators are free to vote their conscience on the nomination.